Gender

Hair

Eyes

Contents

Overview

Minami is a classmate of Tomoko who appears popular. She first comes to attention when Mako Tanaka decides to join her group for the field trip rather than join with Yuri Tamura. She appears popular, but also appears very cruel to others. She openly laughs at Tomoko when she trips on the stairs, eliciting from Tomoko "Little-Fanged Bitch!" Over time, it becomes clear she denigrates seemingly weaker and unpopular classmates to appear popular and "cool." This finally backfires when she tries the tactic around Asuka Katō, who refuses to take her bait, and Akane Okada, who calls her out on her tactic. After this, Minami finds it hard to hang with anyone but Mako; however, Mako, reconciled with Yuri, now hangs with Tomoko and her odd band of friends.

Personality

From what little the readers had seen of Minami prior to the trip to the amusement park, she appears to be very popular, sociable, but rather intentionally rude. She has no qualms against openly laughing at and mocking other students in order to appear cool in comparison. She knows why she does this as she inwardly admits in Chapter 128 when she tries to badmouth Tomoko to Katō and Okada and they ignore it. She inwardly panics, noting that the two are not "taking the bait," and she then tries to gain favor with Okada by then attacking Hina Nemoto. Okada frankly exposes this tactic then wonders why Minami is even with them since she was not invited. While Minami storms off denouncing the two, she is soon after seen by Mako walking away crying. Rather than confront her fault, Minami storms off and then rebuffs offers to join another group since she feels the group pities her for being alone. She ignores messages from Katō trying to smooth things. With Mako, rather than alter her behavior, she starts denigrating Hatsushiba to Mako and expresses surprise when Mako defends him.

Minami's behavior appears a defense mechanism, and for her to return to Katō would require her to accept Okada's criticism which she cannot do at this stage. This serves in more recent chapters to isolate Minami. In Chapter 132 she feels she cannot approach a group of Hina, Okada, and Katō. There is a bit of irony in that Katō previously tried to bring Minami back to her and Okada after Minami stormed off in the face of Okada's accurate criticism of her. Katō probably would have invited Minami to join without her further "losing face." Minami really does not understand others beyond her superficial stereotypes of them. She then sees Mako with Yuri and Tomoko, but fears she will not be accepted. As she stares at them, she fears she will have to become friends with "losers." Currently then, Minami cannot learn from Okada's criticisms, nor does she wonder why the "loner" and "weirdo" Tomoko actually has a few friends.

Unlike other characters, Minami has shown no evidence of character growth. In Chapter 134 she gleefully watches Kotomi confront Yoshida. She inwardly admits that she neither knows the reason for their conflict, nor cares to, she simply enjoys watching others fight and hopes they will fight "forever."

Appearance

Minami has shoulder-length hair that curls at the ends. In the manga her hair has no color which suggests it is either light brown or blond. She wears two triangular hair clips on either side of her head. Her eyes are angled like Yoshida's but Minami's irises are larger, giving her a softer and friendlier appearance. In contrast to her softer appearance, she is drawn with a fang. In the manga she stands at the same height as Mako and Yuri which would make her slightly taller than Tomoko.

Relationships

The two girls do not interact much, if ever. Nonetheless, Minami seems to have heard of Tomoko's reputation as an awkward deviant and laughs at her. Tomoko responds in kind with her own hostility. In Chapter 128, Minami openly ridicules Tomoko to Akane and Asuka. For her part, Tomoko refers to Minami as "Kibako" (キバコ) from kiba ( 牙 - きば "fang") and ko (子 - こ "child") or "a little girl has a fang" or "little-fanged bitch." Tomoko says this in Chapter 117 out loud provoking Yuri's laughter. After she "loses face" during the trip to the amusement park, Minami fears in Chapter 132 that she may have to start hanging out with Tomoko since Mako is Yuri and Tomoko's friend.

Mako and Minami are friends for reasons unexplained. Mako is well aware of Minami's behavior to the point she inwardly complains about it. She accepted Minami's offer to join her group which sparked a conflict between her and her friend Yuri. Between the two, Minami seems to be the one taking a more active role in the friendship as she is the one who asked Mako to be part of her group. She also takes notice of Yuri's absence and invites Mako to lunch in Chapter 99. Minami chides Mako for being friends with Tomoko, the "resident weirdo." Mako notices Minami walking away crying in Chapter 128 during their field trip to an amusement park. While she tries to comfort Minami, she also notices that Minami refuses to accept any responsibility for her behavior and naturally launches into insults towards another student. In Chapter 132, Minami fears interacting with Mako, who is in a group with Tomoko and Yuri, since she fears she will be seen as superfluous and does not wish to be with "losers."

Yuri and Minami have not been shown interacting as of Chapter 99, but there are hints of them not being friends. In Chapter 69, Minami invited Mako into her group for the school trip but did not invite Yuri. In turn, Yuri tells Mako to leave Minami's group without hesitation. In 117, she laughs when Tomoko falls, causing Tomoko to mock her teeth, and Yuri snickers at this. In Chapter 124, Mako compares Yuri to Minami, which causes Yuri to punch Mako in the shoulder, suggesting that she does not like Minami very much and is aware of Minami's tactics.

Minami and Katō seem to be on good terms; however, Katō appears on good terms with everyone. In Chapter 128, after Akane Okada exposes her, Katō suggests that perhaps Okada was too harsh. She then tries to message Minami to return and smooth out the conflict. In Chapter 132, Minami avoids Katō because she is in a group with Hina and Okada. However, when she passes Tomoko in her make-up, she immediately runs to Mako to gleefully insult how ugly she looks in her make-up without realizing Katō was the one who applied it. Katō quietly listens.

Sitting with Okada and Katō at an outdoor cafe in Chapter 128, Minami tries to get the two to join her in badmouthing Tomoko and Hina Nemoto. Okada, who is a friend with Hina but at the time both were upset with one another, reacts by denouncing her attempt to badmouth others. Minami storms away and ignores later messages from Katō trying to invite her back. She later avoids joining a conversation with Katō because Katō is talking to Okada and Hina.

Trivia

Her last name Minami--南--means "south."

She shares her last name with Chiba Lotte Marines pitcher Masaki Minami.

Chapter 129 reveals her first name is Koharu--小陽 (こはる)--which combines the kanji for "little" and "sunshine."

Gallery

Minami realizes she failed.

Minami appears to be crying after Okada's rebuke.

Hatsushiba takes revenge against Minami's insults by depicting her as Mako's "dog."